Springbank 1996-2018 - 22 Year Old - Claxtons - Single Cask 1850-54

Springbank is one of the giants of the Scotch whisky world, an independently-owned distillery dedicated to preserving the traditional methods of distillation. For a long time Springbank was flying the flag for Campbeltown whisky almost alone but the distillery’s fortunes have improved since the 1990s, and in 2000 Springbank expanded their operations with the purchase and subsequent reconstruction of the Glengyle distillery, home of Kilkerran.

The Springbank distillery produces three distinct single malt whiskies, with the regular lightly-peated Springbank malt complemented by the heavily-peated Longrow and the unpeated, triple-distilled Hazelburn. Of these secondary malts, Longrow has a longer history and more passionate fanbase, with the 1973/74 vintages in particular attracting eye-catching prices at auction. The standard Springbank spirit remains one of Scotland’s greatest whiskies, and auction prices for old bottles continue to rise.

Claxton’s is a family-owned independent bottler of single malt whisky based in Yorkshire but with a bonded warehouse and bottling facility in Dumfries in the Scottish Lowlands. The company began bottling single cask whiskies in 2015 and have become prolific in recent years, with over 400 releases under their belt by mid 2024, the most famous of which is probably the outstanding 22-year-old Springbank 1996 released in 2018.

Claxton’s Warehouse No.1 and Warehouse No.8 whiskies are single cask releases and are bottled at cask strength, with the Warehouse No.8 releases usually from Octaves or other small casks. The company introduced their Claxton’s Explorations series in 2020, a range of youngish whiskies bottled at 50%.